‘I can’t believe it’s me’: Meet the Australian set to play Tina Turner

Ruva Ngwenya made her stage debut when she was 15, singing Tina Turner’s River Deep, Mountain High in a high school production. Now, aged 30, she’s about to go a giant step further – making her debut as a professional lead by playing the legendary singer in Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, which opens in Sydney in May.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, I don’t take it lightly,” Ngwenya says in a break from intensive one-on-one rehearsals for the role. “I’m very, very lucky. I kind of can’t believe it’s me!”

Ruva Ngwenya says she has landed the role of a lifetime, playing Tina Turner.Credit: Louise Kennerley

One of the best-selling artists of all time, Turner is known for her extraordinary dance moves almost as much as her powerful voice. She is also one of the industry’s great survivors. Originally rising to stardom in the 1960s with her husband Ike, who was later revealed to be abusive, she staged a comeback in the 1980s with a huge solo career that included a memorable role in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. A 12-time Grammy winner, she has also been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice – with Ike in 1991, and solo in 2021. She has sold over 200 million records.

The musical was devised by Stage Entertainment, producer Tali Pelman and Turner herself. Pelman went to her home in Switzerland to talk to an initially unsure Turner about the idea and came away with her blessing. The show made its debut in London in 2018 and traces her life story – with brutal honesty say the writers – including the early days with Ike and his band, through to her later success. And naturally, it features many of the woman from Nutbush, Tennessee’s biggest hits, including What’s Love Got To Do With It, Private Dancer, Proud Mary and Nutbush City Limits.

If it’s a big step to take on the demanding triple-threat role as a lead in a musical, it’s a whole other challenge to play a real-life person while doing so. The pressure is next-level, says Ngwenya, whose heritage is Zimbabwean. But she was buoyed by the statement of encouragement Turner sent to the Australian cast and crew in which she said, “I am confident Ruva is going to bring her own soul to the role”.

“I can’t believe it’s me,” says Ruva Ngwenya about playing Tina Turner.Credit: Louise Kennerley

“It was nice to get that reassurance from Tina herself that I am to bring my own essence to the role and make it my own in telling her story,” says Ngwenya. “At the end of the day, no one can be Tina Turner. She is an icon and one of a kind. It’s not my goal to karaoke or mimic or replicate her – it’s to tell her story with energy and vibrancy and truth.”

Her experience auditioning for this show has been unlike any other, she says, largely because the global creative team includes many people of colour.

“Just feeling like I’m not the only person in the room, which has been my career most of the time,” she says when asked how it’s different. “[Usually] I’ve been the only black person there, except for maybe The Lion King. This time it feels very different. There’s a lot of diversity throughout.”

A lack of diversity has long been an issue on Australian stages. Ngwenya believes it is improving, “but we are definitely not there yet”.

Tina Turner performing in Italy in 2020.Credit: Reuters

“I am the first Australian-Zimbabwean to lead a show in Australia,” she says.

She says we need people of colour and diversity in positions of influence in the industry, so different stories can be told through different lenses. That includes not just different races, but diverse gender, socio-economic backgrounds and abilities too.

“When you have people who are not from that group telling our stories ... that’s when you start to get a lot of typecasting and stereotypes and a very one-dimensional representation of Asians or blacks or whatever it is,” she says. “It’s kind of why it’s cool with Tina – Tina herself had a hand in writing the story, making sure it was told with authenticity.”

Tina Turner with former husband and band leader Ike.

Ngwenya turned 30 last October, when she had landed the role but it was yet to be announced. The party she held was a huge test of her ability to stay schtum.

“Secretly I was celebrating Tina but no one else knew that,” she recalls. “I just wanted to burst and tell everybody, it was so hard. Now I am just celebrating on cloud nine with everyone.”

Tina – the Tina Turner Musical is at the Theatre Royal Sydney from May. Details: tinathemusical.com.au

Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.